Criteria for Successful LED Sign Advertising

Effective marketing is indispensable if you want to up your business’s reputation and outdo competitors. Investing in top-notch eye-catching LED signage to promote your products and services is just the kind of exposure your company needs and is warmly taken by the public. The big question is: What does it take to make this work? How you choose to represent your business through electronic message boards could have long-term repercussions and goes far to defining it. Before you sprint to splurge hefty amounts on LED signs, here’s what you need to know to make the right decision:

1) Keep the Content Updated

There must always be fresh and updated content on your LED screen, otherwise passersby might get accustomed to it and stop looking. Even basic information, such as the temperature, the weather forecast for the next few days, the fact of the day, the name of the day, and the random quote of the day will amazingly enhance the stickiness of your LED screen.

2) Location

Always situate the LED sign at a strategic location so the audience won’t have to strain up or down or squint up to view it properly. The size and the viewing angle of the sign should be perfect to capture the attraction of the target market. Your best bet is to place the LED sign where people would have to see it, such as near a roadway, or above a doorway. 

3) Quality Hardware

While the market is swarming with retailers, promising the highest quality and color displays of LED signs, only a few come up to the mark. Make sure you do ample research before you decide on the word of a retailer. Color, pitch, resolution, software and where it is manufactured should be considered. You might be tempted to purchase a cheaper LED sign and save money, but remember a top-notch LED sign is worth investing in for long term results.

4) Easy to Use Software

For non tech-savvy business owners, working with an LED display can be intimidating and it is thus imperative to look for a sign that comes with user-friendly software. A trustworthy LED sign provider ensures you comprehend the operating process of your digital display and provides assistance with your first few attempts at content creation and operation. 

5) Keep it Simple

With the advancement in technology, there are a plethora of options to revamp your LED sign, including full motion video LED signs. However, the viewers have about 2 to 4 seconds to view your sign, while video LEDs take 15 seconds to get the message across. It is imprudent to install a video message when moving text displays are way more effective. For messages you want read by people who have only a few seconds to spare, stick to a red monochrome display as it catches the eye and is highly effective.

Red Monochrome LED Sign

6) Content is the King

Lousy and clichéd promotional messages can even ruin an immaculately sophisticated LED sign and deter the trust of prospective clients. It is imperative to fabricate impressive content to capture the attention of public and elucidate your message in a welcoming light. Use the sign's content library to upload well designed messages, or hire a professional help to craft the content for your sign.

Full Color vs. Monochrome LED Displays

Often when faced with the dilemma of choosing the most appropriate LED display for your business, common sense dictates a full color display trumps a monochrome LED in favor of attraction. However, there are many factors which are involved in the decision. You need to take in to consideration your budget, the message you are aspiring to get across to your prospective audience and the nature of your advertisement, before reaching to a conclusion. Afterall, McDonald's restaurants known for their high signage budgets, still finds value in Monochrome LED displays. The question of “what is a better investment?” is presented to many potential LED sign buyers that will have long-term consequences.  Here are a few considerations to take in to account:

1) Budget

Monochrome LEDs are without a doubt, less luxurious and pricey than their full color counterparts. Outdoor Monochrome LED Signs employ a single color of LED to create text and/or graphics. The text can be tweaked to display in myriad options, like sparkle, flash, blink, and scroll, to create a message that will catch the eye of prospective customers as they approach your business.

For businesses that don’t have intimidating competition in the vicinity or are on a limited budget, monochrome LED would serve the purpose without breaking the bank. These can be changed to advertise current promotions or news, without the additional costs and at a fraction of the effort, normally associated with a traditional billboard installation.

2) Location

Look around your business to get a view of where you stand. In the placid world of manual copy boards and static signs, even a monochrome display would stand out and create quite an impact. However, if you are surrounded by high-resolution full color or video LED displays, they would overwhelm the monochrome LED of your business and make it seem rustic. The public is quite picky about where to divert their attention. If you want to deflect their attention back to you, creatively crafted content and a vibrant colored sign would give them the push to look your way.

3) Nature of Message

If the nature of your message is pure data delivery, without incorporating images, monochrome LEDs are a more prudent option. Locations like factory floors, outdoor way-finding areas, stock tickers, loading bays and security checkpoints are all great examples. However, when it comes to demanding the undivided attention of the public, full color signs are the way to go. Supporting graphics and colorful text add more meaning to the LED sign content. Using animated images and vibrant hues, a simple text advertisement is replaced with a fully branded call to action.

4) Nature of Business

There are situations where images enhance the meaning of your message, more than words ever could. E.g. a pizza place would fare better with an enticing image of a pizza slice, oozing melting cheese, than using only words for words to tempt the public. With the additional benefit of complex images via multiple color display options, in full color display, a more awe-inspiring and tantalizing message can be displayed. On the other hand, if you are in the insurance business, a mere picture can’t convince people to stop by and utilize your services, and in that case, a monochrome text display would serve the purpose better.

LED Signs for Schools

Schools need a means of instant communication with the students to operate efficiently, as they are a hotbed of activity, such as sports games, club announcements, plays, fund raisers, safety warnings, and a plethora of other events that need to be shared with the students and the parents within the community. Bid adieu to rustic blow away message boards, or flyers which are cost-intensive and might be lost, since schools are increasingly incorporating large LED display boards to increase the outreach and visibility of all important messages.

Here’s how LED signs enhance the effectiveness of communications in schools:

1. Cost-Effective LED signs

Old-fashioned marquee signs with changeable letters are not feasible anymore and are prone to theft and vandalism. Indoor or outdoor LED signs are not only attractive and easier to read, but also have a useful life of more than 10 years. As LED signs are brighter than LCD or plasma displays, while only using 10% of the energy as compared to incandescent bulbs, their animation and vibrancy attract attention and create awareness. Although the initial investment may come as a surprise, the return on investment makes up for it.

2. Display Important Announcements

LED signs enable schools to inform students, faculty, and the community about a variety of information: welcome and guide campus visitors, broadcast safety alerts, weather warnings and other safety instructions, announce any schedule changes and cancellations, promote student activities, school spirit and achievements, advertise the auditioning for extracurricular clubs, attract community members to get involved in school activities, issue public notification of school events, display motivational quotes to inspire students, flash the motto of the school to passersby and promote the school on an innovative level. An LED display is an easy and effective way to communicate with the school community.

3. Present Innovation

Your school may be splurging a fortune on top-notch technology within the classroom, but people driving by the walls of your school may never be aware of the happenings inside the premises. Therefore, investing in digital signage presents a tech-savvy front for your school. Show everyone what a great school you have and the technology you are using inside!

4. Ensure the Safety of Students

Any unprecedented occurrence can compromise the security of your school. A fire may break out spontaneously in the cafeteria, a suspicious stranger is suspected of lurking in the school premises, there is a threat of imminent violence or crime, or the school needs to evacuated due to a severe weather condition, a mass response LED sign can be used to broadcast safety announcement in a matter of seconds.  

Humorous Appeal: Adding Amusing Messages to Your Sign

Adding humor is a great way to break through the clutter via effective signage, and there are solid reasons why. It is believed to be one of the most powerful tools in gaining attention, engaging consumers and aiding recalls.

Does humor work best for all?

No it doesn’t. As the same rule can’t be applied to all, so can’t humor.

Humor appeal is largely determined by what you are selling. What works best for others, may not work well for you. For example, a company campaigning for breast cancer awareness with a humorous appeal, may negatively influence the sentiments of the people struggling with cancer.

Creating an outstanding sign 

Before leaping onto why it works, here are some of the most commonly used techniques by companies to sell their products.

Comparison: Technique with the involvement of putting two or more components together to develop a humorous appeal. Best to use when the focus is to provide solutions to an existing problem.

Personification: This technique works best when you try to achieve positivity by attributing human characteristics with things to attract youth.

Sarcasm: This technique involves usually promoting embarrassing situations, habits of a person etc to target the core audience. Making them seem funny and enjoyable is the objective.

Silliness: Simply put, silliness refers to a ridiculous situation, incident or occurrence.  Making signs seem silly on purpose to make people laugh is an art of advertising. Highlighting the silliness in advertisements/signs, especially to market luxury or personal use products, is very popular tactic among marketing gurus.

Exaggeration: Exaggeration technique refers to the extension of any given situation in order to focus on one key element. ‘We sell the best’ slogans are made using this technique.

Adding humor to your signs: Benefits

Competitive Advantage Over Others: Adding humor to your signs makes it easily distinguishable from the clutter, with a greater impact. It provides you with the competitive advantage your product needs to sell more.

Source of Instant Entertainment: The most important advantage of humorous signs is that they attract instant attention. This is how it works. Humor triggers your memory to feel something. It enables you to laugh, giggle, or be amused, arousing a response, thus increasing the likelihood of the product to be remembered.

Aids Comprehension: Sometimes adverts are so overly decorated with messages that it becomes difficult to pick out what the product actually wants to deliver. This leads to failed advertising and ultimately a failed product. Humor on the other hand, is simpler to grasp and understand. Humorous signs may increase the likelihood of the consumer to buy your product as it creates a positive vibe and a more personal connection.

Conventional outdoor advertising is losing its spark in today’s world. In order to regain visibility of our business, it is important to come up with innovative ways that are easy to attract and encourages buying decisions of the consumers. Humorous advertising, if done correctly, can reap fruitful trophies for your business.